Dipper and Mabel wound their way back to the Mystery Shack. It was well after dark by this point, and they'd used the golf cart to drop off Soos, Melody, McGucket, and Ivan. Turns out he'd also been completely memory wiped, so McGucket had taken the initiative to recruit him as a lab partner. It was a bit ethically ambiguous to use him for cheap labor, but after everything he'd done, Dipper couldn't bring himself to care that much. He simply enjoyed the cool night air and the sounds of the woods until the glow of the Mystery Shack became visible.
The lights in the gift shop were on, which was a bit strange, but it would make getting inside easier. Dipper and Mabel pushed open the door, and saw Stan standing next to Old Goldie, his arm thrown around it. Wendy was also there, looking at Stan with a slightly exasperated sort of fondness. "C'mon, how could I have ever gotten rid of this class act?" Stan said, before noticing them. "Oh, hey you little gremlins. How'd Soos' date go?"
Dipper hesitated, the by now familiar swirl of doubts coming into his mind. What secrets is he hiding? Is he going to do something to us? And, newly added to the mix, Which intrusive thoughts did Bill mean when he said some of them were true? But, sticking to his promise, he looked to Mabel for support instead of trying to push through it himself. She gave him a small nod, and he was able to look back at Stan and say, "It went pretty well, all things considered."
"They're officially a couple now!" Mabel chimed in. "Although, she actually lives in Portland, so when she goes back home it'll be long distance. But I know they'll make it work!"
Wendy raised her eyebrows. "Whoah, go Soos." She elbowed Stan. "I told you so!"
"Huh, didn't think the kid had it in him." Stan said, sounding mildly surprised, before grinning at Mabel. "Pretty busy week for romance, eh, what with you and Soos both getting some action." Mabel winced, and Stan's smile vanished. "What, did something happen?"
"Gabe broke up with me today." Mabel said, head down. Dipper wrapped an arm around her. Right, Bill said something about that, but I couldn't be sure if it was true…
Stan grimaced. "Oh. I'm sorry, pumpkin." He stepped forward, also wrapping an arm around her. "But, hey, there's plenty of fish in the sea. You'll find a nice boy someday."
Wendy opted for placing a hand on her head, saying, "Yeah, man. Trust me, boys are a dime a dozen."
Mabel smiled, hugging them back. "Thanks, you guys." They all let go as she continued, "But I've actually been thinking about taking a break from romance for a while. I've been trying so hard to force it, and seeing Soos and Melody fall together like they did made me realize that maybe I shouldn't be, y'know?"
Wendy nodded sagely. "That's some mature junk right there." She stretched casually. "Welp, I'm going home. I get paid overtime for this, right?"
Stan snorted. "In your dreams, kid."
Wendy shrugged. "Eh, it was worth a shot. Night, guys."
"Night, Wendy," they all said. Dipper yawned and said, "I think I'll hit the hay, too." He started to walk past Stan, when Stan suddenly grabbed his arm. Immediately, panic swelled within him, and he yanked his hand away. He backed up from Stan warily, mind swirling with dark possibilities, until he saw the concern on Stan's face.
"How'd you get those marks on your wrist?" Stan asked.
"Oh," Dipper said, relaxing somewhat. Did you really think he was going to do something bad out of nowhere? "It's nothing, don't worry about it."
"Yeah, right," Stan said flatly. "I know what kind of marks are left from being tied to a chair, and that's what those are."
Dipper was quiet for a second, then said, "Why do you know that?"
"Don't dodge the question. What happened?" Stan said.
"Um, well…" Dipper stammered, trying to decide how much truth to reveal.
"It was from Soos' date!" Mabel said quickly.
"What?" Stan asked, confused, "How'd you wind up tied to a chair on a date? Wait, Soos didn't take you somewhere really inappropriate, did he?"
Dipper and Mabel made identical disgusted faces. "Ugh, don't be gross, Stan," Mabel said, shuddering.
"We got him a dating simulator that turned out to be sentient," Dipper explained, "The AI girl didn't like it when he got a real date, so she kidnapped me for a while."
"But me, Soos, and Melody busted him out!" Mabel said. She preened a bit, saying, "It was a pretty awesome rescue, if I do say so myself!"
Stan sighed and shook his head. "Shoulda known it was more Gravity Falls weirdness. You two are like magnets for this stuff, y'know that?" He put a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "Still, I'm glad you made it out in one piece."
Dipper was surprised at the show of affection, but it made him feel warm inside. For once, his mind wasn't working against him, so he smiled and said, "Thanks, Grunkle Stan."
Stan returned the smile for a brief moment, before pulling Dipper's hat down over his eyes while laughing. "Alright, alright, that's enough mushy stuff for me. Sounds like you two had a big day, so scoot on up to bed," he said.
"Night, Grunkle Stan," Dipper and Mabel said in unison.
"Night, kids." Stan said, turning back to Old Goldie. As they walked upstairs, Dipper thought he heard Stan begin talking to Goldie about planning a trip to Vegas, but he decided he must be tired and hearing things. He and Mabel brushed their teeth together, before collapsing into their respective beds.
"Night, Dipper," Mabel said, pulling a stuffed animal close to her chest.
"Night, Mabel," Dipper replied. He closed his eyes, before feeling a surge of anxiety, and he pulled the laptop out of his vest pocket. He booted it up, navigated to the Monitoring program, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the Device Charging screen hadn't changed since he'd last checked. There was still a part of him that wanted to stay up all night obsessing over it, but instead he closed the laptop and rolled over.
It'll be fine. It has to be.
Things settled into a routine over the next few days. Mabel and Dipper would, after getting breakfast, head out for the dump and check on McGucket. They would hang out there for a couple of hours, passing tools to him and listening to him ramble about whatever crossed his mind. After the first day, Dipper asked how he could build giant robots in just a few days, but couldn't fix the memory tube super fast. McGucket explained that he was too used to building giant things, and this sort of delicate work was a bit more challenging for him.
"It's actually kinda funny," McGucket had said. "Makes me wonder if I'd been more careful designing my morality circuits, maybe my robots would go rogue less often." He considered it for a moment. "Ah, well. Something to work on once I get this tube doohickey fixed up!" Behind McGucket, another potential reason it was taking so long tripped over a box of scrap metal.
"Man down, man down!" Ivan yelled.
McGucket sighed, and went to help him up. "We'll make a good assistant out of you yet."
After the visit to McGucket, they would head for the town square, which was where Tiffany had set herself up. She said the position allowed her to meet the most new people possible, which helped Dipper believe her memory wipe was real, and not an elaborate trick. He insisted that they needed to check on her in case her memories started coming back, but Mabel was just excited to see how many new friends she'd made. Although, at first that number was pretty small, with the people of Gravity Falls being wary of her. In fact, the first time they found her, Blubs and Durland were standing a safe distance away, trembling and seemingly locked in a rock, paper, scissors stalemate over who had to go over and try to tase Tiffany.
"Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" Durland said. "Aw, man! Best 7 out of 13?"
"Sure, little buddy," Blubs replied. "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Dang it, best 8 out of-"
"Officers, officers," Mabel cut in, "There's nothing to worry about!" She skipped over to Tiffany and gave her a hug. "This is Tiffany! She's a robot cheerleader who just wants to have fun and make friends!"
"Hello, Mabel," Tiffany said, hugging her back. "Thank you for visiting me."
"Of course, what else are friends for," Mabel gasped, "Wait, I still need to introduce you to Candy and Grenda!" Mabel pulled away, "I'll be right back, we'll have a girls day!" She ran off, leaving Dipper alone with Tiffany.
"Hello, new friend," Tiffany said to him, "I am Tiffany. What is your name?"
Dipper cleared his throat, trying not to remember that voice commanding that he be saved for last. "Hey there, uh, Tiffany. I'm Mabel's brother, Dipper."
"Dipper," Tiffany said slowly. "It is nice to meet you, Dipper."
Dipper forced a smile, "Yeah, sure, likewise, haha." Despite his nervousness, it seemed that Blubs and Durland were convinced Tiffany posed no threat, and came forward to eagerly talk to her about their joint sticker collection. She looked happy to have someone to talk to, even seeming genuinely interested in the stickers, until Mabel, Candy, and Grenda came back and shooed them away.
"We'll be back soon, Tiffany," Blubs said as he got back into the police cruiser.
"Yeah, we love talking to friendly folk like yourself!" Durland added.
"Goodbye, new friends," Tiffany said, waving to them before sitting down in a circle with the others and watching closely as Mabel began explaining how to braid hair. Dipper rolled his eyes fondly, and sat down on a nearby bench to wait for them to get done.
After checking on both the major fallouts from their last adventure, Dipper and Mabel would return to the Mystery Shack. Stan would, by this point, have a list of chores for them to do, grumbling that just because they were kids in the summer didn't mean they got to slack off and have fun all day. In other words, a bit of a return to normalcy. Dipper still had trouble with his intrusive thoughts around Stan, but between the concern he'd shown for them after everything and Mabel's support, he could have a few normal conversations with his Grunkle instead of ducking out of the room whenever he walked in.
Dipper was sitting in the living room when Stan poked his head in and said, "Dipper, get in here and sweep the gift shop." Dipper heaved a heavy sigh as he followed behind Stan. He grabbed the broom and began sweeping, while Stan went behind the counter and began counting profits for the day. They went about their tasks in silence for a few minutes, before Stan broke it by saying, "So how are your wrists doing?"
Dipper glanced down at them. They still weren't back to their normal color, but they also weren't the angry red they'd been when he first got them. "Well enough, I guess," Dipper said.
"Good, good…" Stan said, "It's just, y'know, there's that new episode of Tiger Fist on tonight, and I wanted to make sure you weren't going to be crying all throughout it." Stan laughed.
Dipper raised his eyebrows. "Oh, is that right? Y'know, I've suddenly got a funny feeling my wrists will start playing up right as the episode starts."
Stan mimicked his raised eyebrows. "Really now?"
Dipper rubbed his wrists lightly (taking care not to actually irritate them). "Yeah, and I got a feeling that the only thing that'll make it better is pizza to go with my mindless TV."
"Maybe I should just tell you to suck it up?" Stan said challengingly.
"Mabel's the master of annoyance, and I've been around her my whole life. You wanna see what kinda tricks I've learned?" Dipper replied equally challengingly.
They stared at each other for a few moments, before Stan sighed. "Fine, whatever. But only if you get back to work. And we're only getting one topping, y'hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Grunkle Stan." Dipper said, ducking his head to hide his smile. Behind the counter, Stan did the same as they both returned to their respective tasks.
At night, Dipper and Mabel would go to bed. Dipper would check the laptop again, reassuring himself and Mabel that nothing had changed on that front, and Mabel would reassure herself and Dipper that they were doing all they could by waiting for McGucket to finish getting his memories back. And for a few days, things were OK. Until Mabel found Soos' dropped wallet and discovered that it was his birthday.
Key: Friends
N TPSBVW YF JIYLWAV AXNQ SSU OSYGAJ ZV ZRJSX ZA TBVL HRVSA
Previous code: GOLDZILLA REAL?! (NOT CLICKBAIT!)
Notes: Believe it or not, this chapter wasn't supposed to be my version of Little Gift Shop of Horrors. I just thought some short, comedic scenes to describe what was happening in the time skip was a fun idea, but it works with the episode order. This one was relatively easy to write, which is great because the last few weeks have been pretty hectic on the irl front. I won't go into details, but it should be settled for now at least.
Still, if this chapter had been harder to write, I may not have met the deadline, so I wanted to ask you all a question. If things get hectic again and I can't make an update, would you be OK with me posting stuff for a different fic instead? It's very OC focused, the premise is a secret agent adopting a half demon kid and moving into Gravity Falls. It's not something I actually intended to post, it's more of a writing exercise I do sometimes. Y'know, figuring out how these characters work by putting them into the GF world. I'd rather post something than nothing, and I have a few chapters written for it so wouldn't take away at all from this story, but I know people can find OC centric stuff unappealing. So, would you rather I just miss an update entirely, or is that something you'd be interested in seeing? Let me know in the comments.
Which I guess brings me to my usual spiel, so thank you all for reading! Ratings and reviews are always much appreciated. I hope you enjoyed it!